Falling Away With You
by WOWZAcoolBEANS
Summary: Sometimes, it just takes one person to change everything. When Gino asks Kallen to start over, for the first time, she says ‘yes’. Gino/Kallen.


**Title:** Falling Away With You

**Synopsis:** Sometimes, it just takes one person to change everything. When Gino asks Kallen to start over, for the first time, she says 'yes'. Gino/Kallen.

**Rating: **T

**A/N**: I started this in July. I got about three hundred words in and then I sort of stopped obsessing over Code Geass. Feeling nostalgic, I decided to finish this, though it's probably not my best work and it ended up going in a completely different direction than I had originally intended. And the end, I feel, gets a bit OOC. Oh well. Please review. Reviews are wonderful things. ^.^

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Code Geass, because if I did, Kallen would have had better taste in men (meaning, less smooching Lelouch, more smooching Gino).

--

"I'll love whatever you become and forget the reckless things we've done. I think our lives have just begun."

-'Falling Away With You' by Muse

--

Each smile, each moment, each touch had been a memory. Maybe they weren't all fantastic ones, but they each were important nonetheless. And the importance was something that she just couldn't let herself forget. Some people said that living in the past was bad. It was how her mother had gotten hooked on Refrain and how Geass users had almost destroyed the world.

But each memory was important and Kallen couldn't afford to lose any of them.

--

All of the girls at Ashford Academy were jealous of Kallen. They all knew that she was the most gorgeous girl at school, half-Elev… half-Japanese which was so _in_ right now and she had also been a leading player in a world shaping event. Every guy in class wanted her and they all the girls secretly hated her for that. But everyone was also weary of that girl. There was something just a little bit off about her, and it seemed like her mind was always somewhere else.

People tended to stay clear of the girl.

The three foot bubble of space that was consistently around Kallen wasn't something that she tended to notice. No, she was too busy noticing the little reminders of _him_ that were everywhere around Ashford Academy. It was true that her mind was always somewhere else, it was wherever _he_ was.

She had loved him, and now he was gone. That was something that the people around her didn't know. She had loved and lost, and she now knew that the cliché was not true. In the back of her mind Kallen knew that she would have rather not have loved him at all.

--

Gino tended to notice the bubble that surrounded Kallen, and how she was never 'there' and how she always stared off into space and seemed to be thinking of things far more important than the present.

He tended to notice it a _lot_.

There were other things to notice as well. The whispers in the hallways as she walked past talking about the girl who had killed their classmate, the Britannian Knight of Zero. How boys looked at her and seemed to think that she was some prize that they ogled. That the one who would get Kallen into bed would be some sort of winner.

He hated those people; there was nothing more that he wanted to do than slap them… Or worse.

It's not like she could have helped it; they were in war, and she was a pilot. He had been there for all of that, and had been the one who had caught her when she had nearly died in that battle herself. If anything, they should be blaming Gino for all of that. Kallen may have killed Suzaku, but Gino was the one who made sure that the same fate didn't await her after that battle.

It was with that thought in his mind that he went to school each morning and died a little on the inside each day that went by and Kallen seemed to still be outside of the world of the living.

--

"Kallen, Kallen!" She looked up from the notebook that she was absentmindedly doodling in to see some girl whose name she should know, but did not. "Kallen, are you going to go to the dance tonight?" In all honesty, Kallen hadn't even realized that there was a dance. "It's going to be the first one since all of that stuff happened last year."

Bored, Kallen looked down at what she had been writing in her notebook. Strangely enough, they were just squiggly lines. Not even her doodles even made sense anymore. "I don't know; I doubt it." She paused. "Dances aren't my sort of thing."

"Then what is?" The voice from behind her was happy. Looking back, she saw the smiling face of Gino Weinberg. How long had he been sitting behind her? Strangely enough she never seemed to notice his presence. "You never seem to be having much fun."

The girl giggled. "Yeah Kallen, you always look so miserable. Is it just that you hate this school?"

Her answer came quickly, too quickly. "No! I love it here." That much was true; when she had been locked up in the Britannian prison she had wanted nothing more than to return here. To relax and smile with Lelouch and the rest of the student council and to pretend to be the sickly daughter of a rich Britannian. Now she would give anything to go back to the days where she was locked up. Though her freedom was taken away, it would be enough just to see Lelouch alive one last time. "It's just not the same, lately." It was a few whispered words, but they spoke the truth. Everyone at Ashford whom she cared about was gone now. Lelouch, Suzaku and Shirley were all buried in their premature graves now. Rivalz, Milly and Nina were on to the rest of their lives now. The only one left was Kallen now.

"Things change." His words were nonchalant, and he probably didn't realize how much they affected Kallen, but they were true, and she could not deny it. "You think that it's not different for me either? We all lose friends, we all feel upset and we all wish that we could go back." There was suddenly a hand on her shoulder. "But we all need to get over those things and keep going forward."

The girl who had started this entire conversation was gone now; she had gone back to her seat to wait for class to start. Now there was nothing for Kallen to look at besides Gino's blue eyes, large and accusatory. "You don't get it." Kallen spit.

Gino nearly laughed. "It's pretty ridiculous of you to say that. You and I are in the same boat, Kallen. The only difference is that you're too scared to let yourself start over, and I'm letting myself move on." The look in Kallen's eyes the moment after he said it caused Gino to completely and utterly regret what he just said. Before he could find some way to take it back, the teacher got to the front of the room and started lessons.

The entire lesson Gino wanted to find a way to apologize for what he said. He had let his emotions get a hold of him. It was just that it was devastating to watch Kallen single handedly destroy her own life. The way that she was living wasn't living at all; she was hiding from the world because she was afraid of what awaited her. For the longest time he had wanted to say that to her, but whenever he tried to talk, she didn't listen.

For months he had been trying to get close to her. Even when Gino had first met Kallen she had intrigued him, and one of the main reasons that he decided to return to Ashford was the fact that she'd be there. But every attempt that he had made to reach out to her was ignored. It had only been a matter of time before he snapped like he did today.

An hour of despair for Gino and thought for Kallen ended, and as soon as the bell rang, Kallen ran out of class, making multiple people stare at her. Resisting the urge to yell at them to stop, Gino tried to run after her, but could not make it in time. She was gone, and class after class went by, and Kallen was no longer at school.

Feeling like a complete idiot, Gino left school feeling beaten.

--

The suit was sort of old, but it was nice looking. When he had been a Knight of Rounds Anya had helped him pick it out. It still looked nice, even though he had grown just a bit and it was short on his legs. Ignoring that fact, from the waist up Gino looked as good as always.

Except, of course, the frown that had been sporting a prominent place on his usually smiling face the entire afternoon.

But except for that, Gino Weinberg, as always, was handsome and was ready for the Ashford dance that night.

Actually, he wasn't intending to go to the dance. He hadn't asked anyone for a date and he, despite all of his charms and talents, wasn't the best dancer who had ever lived. Still, that afternoon a few girls had approached him and asked if he was going that night, and if he would dance with them. Not one to disappoint the ladies, Gino conscented and decided to attend.

Still, he wasn't exactly in the right frame of mind to be attending a frivolous party that evening. He had tried to find out what dorm Kallen lived in, only to find out that she didn't live on school property and no one knew where her mother's house was. He didn't even have her phone number, so there was no way for him to apologize.

Still, there was a chance, however small, that Kallen would show up at the dance, and that he would be able to apologize then.

There was a knock at the room of his dorm. Confused, Gino walked to the door and opened it up. Standing there was Kallen, in a blue party dress, looking slightly nervous.

"I had to leave school early to get the dress." She explained as she walked into his room. Nervous, Gino scanned the area for any embarrassing articles that were out, but thankfully, there was nothing that would scare Kallen off. "And I didn't know how to do my hair, so it looks sort of stupid." She sat down on top of the wooden desk that was on Gino's roommate's side of the room. He hoped that the kid wouldn't be angry about her doing that. "And I don't even know if I can go without buying a ticket beforehand, but I-"

"I bought an extra ticket."

For a moment she stared at him. "Why?"

"Because I was hoping that I would be able to ask you at some point. I tried, but you never listened." Pausing, he looked her over for a moment. Despite all of the things that she probably thought had gone wrong with her appearance, she looked beautiful. Even the scowl on her face made him smile. "I'm glad that you came to me."

Cynically laughing, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, well, you're the one who told me that I needed to change, so you might as well be the one to do it." Through her scowl, a small smile was beginning to escape.

He took a few steps towards her, and leaned on the post of the room's wooden bunk bed. "I'd be happy to, Kallen. Just promise me one thing." He grinned, and it was the sort of smile that was contagious. Even Kallen, who had not truly smiled in months, found the edges of her lips beginning to tip upwards. Gino couldn't help but to notice that this was the first time that Kallen seemed to be acting like herself in months.

"And what would that be?"

Taking the plunge, Gino walked over to Kallen and put her in his arms. "Don't think about the things that you've lost, think of the things that you have now. And that includes me." He paused to take in the surprised look on Kallen's face. "So don't forget, you aren't the same person you were back then, but that doesn't mean that people don't care about you anymore."

When he let go, Kallen resumed her aloof look, but this time, the smile was unable to be restrained. "That… That I think that I can do."

--

That night everyone stared at Kallen. As per the usual she was the most beautiful girl in the room and the girls were all jealous and the boys all wanted her. But this time, Gino didn't notice. This time, he only noticed the fact that the girl of his dreams was in his arms at last.

--

_Fin_


End file.
